Félicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted suspects in the Rwandan genocide, has been arrested in France.
The French ministry of justice announced that the 84-year-old was picked up on Saturday near Paris where he has been living under a false identity.
Kabuga, who was alleged to have been a main financier of the genocide, has been on the run since the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda had charged him for crimes against humanity while the United States placed $5m bounty on him.
The ethnic Hutu extremists, who he was alleged to have financed, had targeted members of the minority Tutsi community during the genocide that lasted more than three months.
Serge Brammertz, a top United Nations prosecutor, said in a statement that Kabuga’s arrest “is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even 26 years after their crimes”.
He added: “For international justice, Kabuga’s arrest demonstrates that we can succeed when we have the international community’s support.
“This result is a tribute to the unwavering commitment of the United Nations Security Council, which established the Mechanism to continue the accountability process in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.”
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